North Jetty (Hikkaduwa) Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here, and I gotta level with ya – the next couple weeks at North Jetty (Hikkaduwa) are looking pretty grim for us surfers. That's a long stretch of onshore winds, storms, and just messy conditions. The good news? There’s a tiny bit of clean-ish potential right at the very back end, but you’ll need some serious patience.

Let’s break it down. From the start of the forecast up to Wednesday the 18th of September, this place is getting hammered by onshore to cross-onshore winds from the west and west-southwest, blowing 18 to 19 mph. Combine that with the risk of thunderstorms basically every day, and you’re looking at blown-out, rainy, and poor surf conditions. The swell is there, mostly from the SSW to SW, with heights bouncing between 1 ft and 5 ft, but it doesn't matter when the wind is trashing it. The water temp is sitting at 83°F, which is pretty normal for this time of year, so at least you won’t need a steamer for a rainy paddle.

The wave energy is moderate to strong though, with values in the hundreds and into the thousands – like 1073 on Thursday morning, 1440 on Friday the 11th, and 1565 on Saturday the 12th. It’s just not any use to us when it’s all messy and onshore.

Now, if you look right at the end of the window – Friday afternoon, the 18th of September – we see a bit of a shift. The swell holds at 3 ft from the SW, but the period jumps to a very long 22 seconds. That’s proper groundswell energy, with a combined swell energy of 1108. The wind is still cross-onshore at 16 mph though, so it won't be glassy. But if that long-period pulse lines up with the point, and we get a lucky break in the wind, there might be a couple of clean-ish ones. This break needs a SW swell to work best and it’s fairly consistent. Keep in mind the long period (over 15 seconds) might make it a bit too straight for the beach, but Hikkaduwa’s point setup should handle it.

Look, for the next two weeks, there’s no real standout. The only faint hope is that Friday the 18th afternoon session. Otherwise, it’s a long wait for a very uncertain clean-up. The place is called North Jetty, but the wind is just wrong for it.

Forget the next week and a half, I reckon. If you’re desperate, keep an eye on that Friday the 18th, but don’t hold your breath. On the plus side, it’s usually fairly consistent here, so if a weather window opens closer to the time, things could turn around quicker than I’m saying now.

Stay patient, keep the wax warm, and I’ll see you down the line.

Rusty

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